I just caught the last two minutes of the broadcast! It was great, and just what was needed to bring this problem to the average American. Way to go, Mira! I'm going to replay it online later to see the full story.

Annette

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step - Old Chinese Proverb

Just saw the piece. Unfortunately, Charley and Sydnee were both in display mode and we did not get to really hear it. I will watch it after the Darlings are in bed. From what I did hear, it seemed like a well done piece.Thanks for the heads up.Sharon

You have two choices: accept things the way they are, or have courage to change them. J Kanani

Wow the comments on there are idiotic. A lot of these people have parrots too, are they not effected at all by living with them?

Anyway, The HSUS' stance makes sense to me. They are an animal rights group and AR's believe that people interacting with animals in any way is wrong. This includes for food, clothing, medicine (testing), pets, etc.

The problem with the HSUS is they play it a lot safer than Peta, thus they have gained a lot of political power and make a LOT of money. People don't realize they have the same crazy agenda. Here's an article on some of that: http://peta-sucks.com/smf/index.php?topic=37197.0 (I have many more of these too)

I'm sure any response we'll get from them will be a boiler plate, ass-covering statement like they usually give out. It'll be something like "Oh the birds we get are so abused, we have to put them down". Peta gave a similar statement when people found their public euthanization records.

What annoys me the most about some of those comments are the ones accusing Mira and such as being ARA's. Wanting to curb the parrot overpopulation problem and get proper homes for them is HARDLY an AR stance. AR stance would be: No breeding, euthanize the ones we have now and never touch them again (which includes wild population control the WWF does and any re-introduction programs, AR's slam both constantly).

PS: I'm not trying to start any fights with ARs here. I don't know if there are any here.. These are just my personal views on the subject. Not trying to slam anyone personally here..

I agree Jacque. Sally Blanchard (willingly or not) misunderstood the message of the video. I posted this video on all of my groups and SURPRISE! the only negative drama it created was within my Rescue Group. I cannot believe the way people react to things...I guess that the 'perception is reality' truism really is...

Cidsa-that really got me, too, that they were calling Mira out as such. Anyone in touch with what is really going on really knows better. As Charlie often comments, though, the ignorance is sometimes overwhelming.

I was so naive that I didn't know what AR was until this controversy. I can't believe the disparity of beliefs. Wow!

I honesty was alarmed that some "Humane" society is saying that unwanted birds be euthanized. That's revolting. I know that there are parrots out there in bad situations and that many rescues are full. But to be honest, the humane society here does get birds (and about a hundred times more cats) but they don't euthanize them for lack of homes. Killing an unwanted bird is the lazy person's way out, unless the bird has a health problem that cannot be treated and causes the bird a great deal of pain.

There are people out there that can help with very difficult birds. I've helped re-train and re-home some pluckers and biters. I make no money from this.

People who want a parrot *need* to know about what high maintenance animals they are and should be encourage to adopt from a rescue. Personally, I always have the feeling that my pet tropical birds don't really "belong" in my house in Canada. However, the piece does make it sound like anyone who owns a parrot has a complete terror of an animal. Frankly, I adore my birds and none of them scream excessively, display any stereotypies, or pluck. I only very rarely get bitten. I have also never thought, "I can't take it another minute, " and I have a few large parrots. Plus, each can tolerate some "alone" time, though I think it helps that all can at least see and hear another bird at all times. My little guys are all paired up.

In the end, I think that it's difficult to address any issue in the short sound-bites that most media allow for even complicated topics. On the positive side, I do hope that this prevents unprepared people from taking on a parrot, and I'm sure it will. I sure hope no idiots go and have their bird executed from hearing this, though.

While I agree, euthanasia is awful it may be more humane then warehousing unwanted birds in cages/prisons for years and years, especially the sick, really aggressive ďdifficultĒ birds that have a lower chance in finding a home that is suitable for them. Iím not sure that itís easy for everyone to put an animal down but sometimes it might be needed.

All of the birds living with me mean everything to me but there are days that they drive me absolutely nuts and there are days when one of them is acting hormonal and I get bit and it hurts like hell and I do think to myself ďwhat the hell have I gotten myself into? I must be insane for keeping parrotsĒ but I also realize itís not the birds fault. They are doing the best they can living in my house under very unnatural conditions andIím not sure if I could do a better job than them if the roles were reversed.

It might be fair to say that a lot of people experience stress with trying to maintain a human life while living with birds. Birds are birds and they have very strong instinctual behaviors such as chewing and they canít distinguish between an antique armoire and a pine block. Birds poop, a lot, they are messy, and require a hellava lot of attention and they donít always necessarily like everyone living in the house, which can pose a HUGE problem. So stress kind of comes with the territory for most people living with birds.

I donít have exact figures but I would say that most bird people on forums who want to help birds are very passionate, patient people who are determined to do what is right for the birds in their care and if we can get stressed think about how many people there are who just canít deal with it. That is why I think this CBS/Mira Tweti segment was a good one for everyone to see.

ALL people wonít know if they are the kind of people that can stick it out and commit to proper care for the birds they bring home until they have done so and been through it or volunteered at rescues, zoos etc. and have witnessed firsthand what these birds are capable of doing and the amount of energy that is REQUIRED to, feed, clean and work with these guys.

I am just so glad that more in-depth information is being made public on a larger scale like this TV segment short or not. I also think there will be more to come thanks to a lot of hard working folks who keep busting their butts to get real information out there so the public can make real choices based on ALL of the information not just the desirable side to living with a parrot.

Maybe, but that quote from the "humane" society makes it sound like one should just execute an unwanted parrot straight out without even trying to find it a home. I don't think people should be breeding large parrots, but I'm not going to be thrilled with a piece that gives no hope to owners of difficult birds and just notes that people with unwanted birds ought to kill them. The article would have been better without that terrible remark. Euthanizing a bird is an absolute last resort, not the first one.

I understand why everyone is so passionate about the euthanization of parrots because they are unwanted. And ideally it would be a last resort. However, I think it is becoming painfully obvious that we are to the point that it is necessary. Rescues are full. What else are you going to do? I think the humane society's statement was unfortunate but necessary. People need to understand that there are so many unwanted birds out there that euthanization is the only alternative. The more adoptable ones will find homes and the needy ones will not and there will be no place to put them. Instead of jumping on the humane society, we need to focus on the cessation of the breeding of those "cute" birds. The video Charlie and Bev put together is a great start as is the segment on CBS. Maybe some birds will be saved with these efforts.

Sorry but no way would I just execute my birds because a humane society says I should.

The HSUS rakes in millions of dollars per year and could open up a very nice parrot rescue and actually save birds. Instead they tell people to kill animals.

How many people here have taken in an unwanted bird? Would you really have preferred that the former owner just kill it? Six of my birds would be dead right now if their former owners would have listened to the Humane Society's advice. Mitri's owner looked far and wide to find him a good home and good on her. She did the right thing in a desperate situation and didn't just take him to the vet to be killed.

By the way, do not assume that I'm "just" jumping on the Humane Society. My whole life is devoted to the study of animals and I do a lot to promote adoption. However, I'm not going to tell people to kill animals and I am not going to blindly praise those that do. That's the antithesis of what I am about.